Many different devices offer microphones for a variety of different purposes. The microphones may be used to receive speech from a user to be sent to users of other devices. The microphones may be used to record voice memoranda for local or remote storage and later retrieval. The microphones may be used for voice commands to the device or to a remote system or the microphones may be used to record ambient audio. Many devices also offer audio recording and, together with a camera, offer video recording. These devices range from portable game consoles to smartphones to audio recorders to video cameras, to wearables, etc.
When the ambient environment, other speakers, wind, and other noises impact a microphone, a noise is created which may impair, overwhelm, or render unintelligible the rest of the audio signal. A sound recording may be rendered unpleasant and speech may not be recognizable for another person or an automated speech recognition system. While materials and structures have been developed to block noise, these typically require bulky or large structures that are not suitable for small devices and wearables. There are also software-based noise reduction systems that use complicated algorithms to isolate a wide range of different noises from speech or other intentional sounds and then reduce or cancel the noise.